Eagerbob Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 I purchased a new monotype font yesterday. This is a "variable" font. Now I am making a document with it. When I export the document to PDF, the different font variations (weight mainly) do not show up in the PDF. When I let my mac save the document as PDF, by choosing print>save as PDF, the variable font shows ok. When I print to a postscript.ps file, and let Adobe Distiller convert the .ps file to PDF the fonts show up allright. So, if the mac can print to PDF, or a postscript file that is created by the printerdriver (I guess) contains the variable font metrics, why can't Publisher create a PDF correctly? Thanks Bob Vertril 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 The Affinity applications do not support "variable" fonts at this time. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.3, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagerbob Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 Yeah, ok, I noticed that. Question is why not, if a postscript file that is output from Publisher *does* support variable fonts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 Sorry; no idea. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.3, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 Read this on the Adobe Support forum. Looks like it is still something to be watched and not quite ready for prime time use yet. Honestly I had never even heard of variable fonts. After looking and playing with some demo fonts I do see the appeal. The flexibility they offer is incredible! Seneca 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagerbob Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 Ok, That is a clear answer. Better not use them then. Funny sidenote is that Adobe themselves tried to bring a similar thing to market with their Multiple Master Fonts. Which, I believe, never were successful. Also a bit of a disappointment what he says about SVG/colorfonts, which I find more interesting than variable fonts. Thanks, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 1 hour ago, Eagerbob said: Also a bit of a disappointment what he says about SVG/colorfonts, which I find more interesting than variable fonts. Which are also, by the way, not supported by Affinity at this time. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.3, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagerbob Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 Quote Which are also, by the way, not supported by Affinity at this time I was just trying that out. From this table from colorfont.wtf I figured that it should work But it doesn't. Second screenshot is from Designer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 SVG fonts only work in Affinity applications IF they have fallback glyphs (i.e. non-colored characters). That table is wrong to include Affinity applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfriedberg Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 It's already been mentioned above, but when I first heard of variable fonts my immediate reaction was "Are they reviving Multiple Master fonts?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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